![W675-169 : W/200 [tobacco: UK] W.D. & H.O. Wills "Famous British Authors" large size 79 m/m x 62 m/m (August 1937) 23/40](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-01/18%20milne%20pair.jpg?itok=XjTF--Pf)
Actually this is a very under rated set, it shows most of the popular authors of the time, and has their autographs, very useful to this day for literary folk. However the size of the cards makes framing difficult and unwieldy, and it was only issued in this large version, unlike many makers, who produced large and small cards. In addition it was only a “home issue” not for export.
So here we have the actual A.A. Milne, father of Christopher Robin, and of Pooh and his friends. The photo is very similar to one taken by Howard Coster in 1926, with Christopher Robin on his lap, now in the National Portrait Gallery - but a Winnie the Pooh aficionado may know of another picture that is more perfect a match.
Alan Alexander Milne was educated at Westminster and Cambridge, where he became the editor of their magazine “Granta”, something that stood him in good stead when he joined the staff of “Punch” in 1906 as an assistant editor. In 1913 he was married. He spent the First World War in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, as a signalling officer; the website of the Royal Signals Museum includes a page on him After his recuperation and release, he started a family, Christopher Robin was born in 1920, and he wrote several successful plays for the stage, as well as his first book of poetry “When We Were Very Young”, in 1924. This was followed by “Winnie the Pooh”, which was published by Methuen in October 1926.